Disclaimer: I do not
own anything 'Harry Potter,' and I don't make a dime off of it.
I write for nothing but enjoyment.

A/N: This story is not
for Ginny lovers, so be warned.

It was another quiet
night in the Emergency Admissions area at St. Mungo's Hospital for
Magical Maladies and Injuries. Hermione liked quiet nights. It gave
her a chance to catch up on her reading. She hadn't really fallen
behind in her studies… after all, when she wasn't at the
hospital, she was at home. Home in her tiny one room flat… alone…
reading.

All her friends said
she has a boring life. Hermione didn't mind having a boring life.
Boring was a refreshing change from what her life was like only two
years prior. 'Boring' didn't describe her six years at
Hogwarts, 'Boring' certainly didn't describe the three and a
half years that they searched for Voldemort's Horcruxes, and
nobody in their proper state of mind could call the last battle where
Harry finally finished Voldemort 'Boring.'

In fact, her life had
been anything but boring before two years ago, not since she was
eleven years old when she had first met 'The Boy Who Lived.' She
smiled inwardly as she recalled her first train ride to school. She
had tried not to show her excitement when she first saw him sitting
in that compartment with Ron, but her nervousness at actually meeting
the famous Harry Potter crept through her façade and she ended
up babbling on and on about…

"Books." She said
aloud, snapping the book she was currently reading closed. The
things that gave her comfort and confidence while growing up as a
child, were also the things now making her life, as Ron so
thoughtfully put it, 'dreadfully, tearfully boring.'

Her thoughts returned
to that first meeting. She remembered that 'spell' that Ron had
tried on his rat, the rat that caused a lifetime's worth of pain in
a small boy's life. Of course, the 'spell' didn't work. She
knew it as soon as he started that silly incantation. She wanted so
desperately for Harry to ask her to do more 'real' magic for him.
She had told him that she had tried spells that 'did' work, and
even repaired his broken glasses for him, but after struggling to
stop herself from babbling about books a minute before, she was not
about to risk offending them by trying to show off too much. She had
the impression that the boys were getting rather annoyed with her as
it was. No, as she thought about it, only one of the boys appeared
to be annoyed with her… the redhead, Ron.

Maybe if she wasn't
so boring her life would have turned out differently. Maybe, if she
didn't always have her nose stuck in a book she'd have time to
get involved in a relationship with someone. Maybe if she were a
little prettier, a little more exciting, a little more like Ginny…
then just maybe things would have turned…

She was snapped from
her daydreaming by a familiar voice at the door. "Hello Hermione,
I think I need your help… again."

Her best friend, Harry
Potter, was leaning against the doorjamb, looking flushed and sweaty.

"Oh, Harry," she
sighed sympathetically, "what did she do now?"

"Honestly, I don't
know," he answered, "we were in the middle of another of our
arguments when she snapped again. She packed a bag of her stuff and
headed for the door."

"Again?" sighed
Hermione.

"Yeah, but this time,
I told her if she walked out the door, she shouldn't bother coming
back. I turned around to head back upstairs, and she muttered some
kind of curse behind my back and stormed out. I felt ok at the time,
I thought she missed me, but then I started feeling… I dunno…
panicky, I can't describe it. Then I started feeling sick, so I
figured I'd better come to see you. You always know what to do."

Hermione smiled
inwardly at his last comment. She was glad, that after all these
years, he could still depend on her, and he still trusted her. She
had already drawn her wand out and was waving it in intricate
patterns around Harry's head, neck and upper torso while asking,
"Hit you while your back was turned? Typical… Well, I'm sure
she'll be back. She always comes back." Then Hermione thought
to herself, 'Of course, she'll go back, the little princess
couldn't survive without Harry's money.'

"Yeah," Harry
sighed, "I suppose, but she was really furious this time. I've
never managed to get her quite this angry before."

"What was the
argument about this time?" asked Hermione while continuing to
examine him.

"The usual…"
Harry answered.

"The 'starting a
family' one…" Hermione already knew what the 'usual'
argument was. She had heard both sides of the story on too many
different occasions. Harry, of course, had always wanted a family to
call his own, while Ginny, who had promised Harry children before
they were married, had changed her tune completely after the wedding.
She didn't want the fuss, the responsibility, the pain, or the
stretch marks. She liked her fun and freedom, the fun and freedom
that Harry was paying for. Yes, all Ginny wanted was the money, fame
and power that came with being Harry Potter's wife. She got the
huge house that she wanted, the throng of servants and house
elves that she wanted, the expensive designer robes, the
extravagant parties, and all the friends and lovers that Harry's
money could buy, everything that she wanted.

Hermione never had the
heart to tell Harry about the 'lovers' part.

All Harry had asked for
in return was a family of his own. All he wanted was a woman to love
and to love him in return. All he wanted was a horde of little
Potters running around, causing mischief, and being loved by a father
who was never loved as a child himself.

Hermione would love
nothing more than to trade places with Ginny. Not for the houses,
servants or parties, but for the love, for the family that Harry had
always wanted, the family that Hermione would sacrifice everything
she had to be a part of.

"Hmmm, I can't seem
to find anything wrong. Do you remember what the incantation was?"

Harry thought for a
moment, "She muttered it so softly that I barely heard it, it could
have been something like 'surrilis' or 'serritus,' I didn't
recognize it, and as I said, I barely heard…"

Hermione's face
darkened, "Was it 'Scectillious'?"

"It could have been,
I'm not completely sure, but it sounds close." Said Harry, while
he watched Hermione make odd wand movements over his lower abdomen.

She stopped the
movements and whispered, "Oh, my! Oh no!" A look of
horror washed over Hermione's face, "She wouldn't… She
wouldn't dare!" Harry! How long ago did this happen?"

Harry was taken aback
by the seriousness of her voice. He checked his watch and said, "It
couldn't have been more than an hour ago…"

Hermione grabbed
Harry's wrist and pulled him from the room, "Hurry! Maybe
we're not too late!" She dashed down the hall towards the
hospital's potions lab, with Harry following a few steps behind.

She burst through the
door and announced to the three people who were working there, "Get
out! Now!"

They were about to
voice their objection to being ordered about by a junior healer when
they noticed who had stepped into the room behind her. They quickly
gathered their projects and fled the lab.

Hermione wasted no time
in setting up the equipment. She frantically raced from her cauldron
to retrieve the various components from the many shelves and cabinets
around the room.

"What's wrong,
Hermione?" asked Harry, who was starting to worry as he saw the
desperation growing on her face. "What did she do to me?"

She brushed a stray
curl that had escaped her bun away from her sweaty face as she
worked. "The Scectillious charm is used when… It's a
charm that…"

Harry at first thought
it was the sweat of concentration running down her face, until he
realized that she was crying.

Hermione's voice was
cracking as she spoke, "How could she! That selfish little…
That evil woman!" She wiped the tears from her eyes with her
sleeve and squeaked, "I never would have thought she'd stoop so
low!"

Harry's face turned
ash white when he realized what Ginny might have done to him,
"Hermione, what is this Scectillious charm?"

Hermione's shoulders
dropped and she spoke in barely a whisper, "It's a contraception
charm. It's a charm men use when they've had enough children."
She then burst out sobbing, "Harry, it's meant to be permanent! Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry!"

Harry felt his heart
drop into his stomach. He reached out his hand and steadied himself
on a nearby desk. He didn't say anything, but Hermione could see
the devastated look on his face.

This look made her cry
even harder. "I can't believe she'd risk Azkaban over her
petty selfishness!"

"Azkaban? What do
you mean?"

Hermione added the last
few ingredients to the cauldron and cast another heating charm under
it. "It's illegal for a woman to use that spell. Only the man is
supposed to make the decision to sterilize himself. The same goes
for the Sancticillious charm for women. It's a trip to
Azkaban for men to cast that one."

"WHAT?"
Yelled Harry, "What did you just say?"

Hermione looked up from
the cauldron and saw the fury behind Harry's eyes, "I said the
Sancticillious charm is only to be used by the woman herself.
It's the permanent sterility charm for women, just like
Scectillious is for men." Upon seeing the flare of fury in
his eyes replaced by a look of total despair, she looked back down
and concentrated on the potion.

Harry sat on the desk
that had been supporting him and buried his face in his hands.

Hermione continued
brewing the potion in silence, not looking up from the cauldron that
she was feverishly stirring.

"She said it was
temporary." Harry whispered, "She said it was reversible. She
used that spell on our wedding night."

Hermione stopped
stirring, hung her head and placed her hands on the table, trying to
support the weight that her legs didn't seem capable of at the
moment. She took a deep breath, and then stood up straight. "It's
ready, Harry." She said as she poured the contents of the cauldron
into a goblet. "You can't drink it here, come on."

Hermione stepped to the
door and waited for Harry to follow. She sadly watched as he wiped
his eyes and stood unsteadily.

They walked to a nearby
room and Hermione hastily conjured a bed for him. After helping
Harry get undressed and into a comfortable position on the bed, she
closed and locked the door, then cast a series of silencing charms
around the room. She then started tying his hands and legs to the
corners of the bed.

When she noticed Harry
looking at her questioningly, she told him, "Harry… The potion
will have some strange effects on you, and it is only half of the
treatment. I also have to cast a counter-charm on your… on you."
She blushed briefly, then sighed and gave him an apologetic look.
"Harry, this is going to be very, very painful, and there is
no guarantee it will work." She dropped her gaze to the floor and
nervously bit on her lower lip, "I'm so sorry, Harry. I wish
there was another way."

Harry downed the
contents of the goblet, took a deep breath and laid back into the
pillow.

After restraining his
remaining hand, Hermione studied her watch, counting the seconds,
"Ok, Harry, get ready… Oh, I'm so sorry!"

Hermione pointed her
wand at Harry's groin and cried, "Lashissorcia!' An
opaque, pink beam of light flashed from her wand and connected with
Harry.

Harry had thought the
Cruciatus was bad, but the pain that now shot from his groin
up through his chest made that curse seem like a tickling charm.

Harry was thrashing
violently on the bed. Through his own blurred vision, he saw that
her hands were trembling as she tried to hold the beam from her wand
steady on him. He could barely make out Hermione's face. Her eyes
were closed, tears were streaming down her cheeks, and he could see
her mouth moving, but could only hear his own screaming.

Suddenly, a cloud
blanketed his thoughts as the potion was apparently taking effect.
He could hear voices in his head, some whispering distantly, some
softly spoke random phrases that drifted in and out, but there was
one voice that he could clearly hear, the cry of Hermione's voice
echoing in the back of his mind saying, 'Oh, Harry, I'm so
sorry, please forgive me, I'm so, so sorry! I don't like doing
this! I hate hurting you! I love you so much, please forgive me! Oh,
please don't hate me for doing this to you! I love you…'

That was the last he
'heard' before the blackness of unconsciousness enveloped him.

After untying Harry's
hands and legs, Hermione collapsed into a chair that she had conjured
next to his bed. She was exhausted. Harry had passed out from the
pain five minutes into the treatment, a blessing for him, she
thought.

She rubbed her red,
swollen eyes and stared vacantly at a random spot on the wall. She
silently prayed that the treatment worked. She knew that a
counter-charm had to be performed within two hours of the original
charm for there to be any chance of a successful reversal. He said
it was about an hour before he arrived at the hospital, and it took
her about forty minutes to make the potion. She sincerely hoped they
made it in time.

"But what did it
matter?" she thought, "If Ginny really did sterilize herself,
Harry's chances at a family of his own was gone anyway. She didn't
have to do it to him, too. Was it out of spite? Was it the fear of
him having a child with someone else? Having a heir to take her
money if Harry should die?"

Hermione didn't
notice the frown that appeared on Harry's face.

Harry would never cheat
on Ginny, Hermione was sure of that. Ginny, of course, didn't have
those silly morals to get in her way. She had heard all about those
'parties' that Ginny threw at their beach house while Harry was
away. Being an auror often had him spending days away from his home,
so there were beach house parties often thrown.

The frown on Harry's
face deepened, and still went unnoticed.

Of course, with him
being an auror, wouldn't you think he'd notice what was happening
under his own nose? Hermione supposed not… since the war, Harry
was much too trusting of the people close to him for his own good.
He got used to trusting the people close to him. He had to
trust his friends. He would have never survived the war if he didn't.

"Harry deserves
better than that," thought Hermione bitterly, as she sat with a
frown, "It's really not fair to him."

She thought about how,
just a few hours before, she wondered how her life would have turned
out if she were more like Ginny. The thought of that now was turning
her stomach.

Still, she wished that
she could do it all over again. She would have done so many things
differently. She would have tried harder to be more pleasant around
him, paid more attention to him. She would have believed him and
helped him more in their last year at Hogwarts. She certainly would
have worked up the courage to tell him exactly how she felt about him
so many years ago, how she still feels about him. Now, regretfully,
it was too late… much too late.

The frown disappeared
from Harry's face.

She felt her heart
breaking inside as tears welled up into her eyes. Her heart was
breaking for Harry's sham of a marriage, it was breaking because he
would never have the family that he wanted more than anything in the
world, it was breaking for all the lies and deception that Harry had
to take from the people that were supposed to love him.

Her heart was breaking
because she felt it was all her fault.

Maybe, if she had made
more of an effort not to be so bloody boring, he would have noticed
her as something more than his best friend, his favorite little
bookworm… Maybe if she told him long ago that she loved him more
than life itself, none of this misery would have fell on his
shoulders, or maybe having Harry being in love with her was just
never meant to be, even if she wasn't so boring.

"I guess I'll have
to be content to remain Harry's favorite little boring bookworm."
She thought sadly as she brushed the unshed tears from her eyes.

She looked over to
Harry and was surprised to see a smile on his face.

"Do you know what the
effects of that potion you gave me are?" asked Harry, wincing as he
sat up in the bed. The pain in his abdomen was still very much
there.

"Well," she said
warily, "tissue regeneration that's centered on your, umm, groin
area," her face blushed a pleasant pink, "that's the
primary effect. The secondary effect is an anesthetic, quite a
strong one, at that. There are other side effects that vary from
person to person, but it's impossible to tell what they would be,
and I've never heard of any that are particularly dangerous. But
why…?"

Hermione's eyes
widened as the realization hit her. She closed her eyes and thought,
"You can read my mind?" It was more a tentative statement than a
question.

A moment of silence
passed. She was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when she
heard Harry say, "Yes, I can."

A squeak escaped her
throat as she covered her mouth with her hands, "Oh no! Oh, I'm
so sorry Harry… When did you…? How much did you hear?" Her
eyes widened again in horror as she recalled what she had been
thinking while Harry laid there, "Oh my... Oh, no!"

Hermione jumped up from
the chair and dashed to the door. She struggled with the doorknob
for a few seconds before remembering the locking charms she had
placed on it. She reached for her wand, but her arms were caught in
Harry's hands. She shrieked in embarrassment as she struggled
against his grip, then admitting defeat, she spun around and
collapsed into Harry's chest and started sobbing.

Thoughts started racing
through her mind, "Oh no, he's going to hate me! He's not
supposed to find out that I love him… Ack! He can hear this! Oh
no! Bloody Hell, he's only in his boxers!"

She squeaked loudly and
started struggling again, but by then he had his arms wrapped tightly
around her, holding her to his chest while trying to calm her down.

"It's ok,
Hermione," he whispered to her, "it's not your fault. I'm the
one who has made all the mistakes."

She stopped struggling
and listened, her wet face still buried in his chest.

"I heard enough to
realize how wrong I've been, about a lot of things. You were
right, I do know about Ginny and the 'parties' at the beach
house, I knew all along. I knew all about the lies and deceit, and I
knew why you couldn't tell me. There's only two new bits of
information I got tonight, one was the fact that my 'loving
wife…'" those two words were spit from his mouth like
venom, "was so selfish and conceited that she's go so far as to
forever deny me children just to preserve her sex appeal and her
control of the money."

"The other fact…"
Harry paused, brought her tear-stained face away from his chest, and
then looked into her eyes, "was the one that I should have seen
years ago. I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. You were
right about so many things. I thought I knew love with Cho. Well,
we both know how pathetically wrong I was there…"

Hermione nodded and
gave him a small, knowing smile.

"Then there came
Ginny. I thought I knew what love was then, too." Harry laughed
bitterly, "Hormones and lust... Endless days of snogging and
shagging, that was love, right? I didn't pull my face far enough
away from hers to see who she really was, what she was really like.
By the time I truly knew what love was, and who it was that I was
truly in love with, I was stuck."

Hermione's smile
faltered slightly as she wondered what he was getting at.

"I finally learned
that loving someone means you can depend on them, no matter what
happens, trust them with your very soul… To be truly in love with
someone is when you know you'd die if they were removed from your
life, and you'd gladly give your life to protect them and keep them
safe. Yes, the second thing I learned tonight is the fact that I
know now what I should have known so many years ago, because the
feelings I have for you have never changed. Knowing now that you feel
the same way about me as I do about you, I should have done something
about it years ago, I should have done this years ago."

Harry bent down and
gently placed his lips onto hers.

As their lips met,
Hermione's eyes opened wide in momentary panic, and then slowly
closed as she slid comfortably into his embrace and deepened the
kiss.

Neither one knew how
long the kiss lasted, their lips only separated when they ran out of
breath. Hermione looked up into his eyes and said, "You have no
idea how long I've wanted that to happen."

"Oh, yes I do…"
he answered while tapping his temple and giving her a knowing smile.

She buried her face
back into his chest, "It's not nice poking around in other
people's heads, Harry."

"It's not something
I tried to do, but I'm not sorry at all that it happened. I think
that potion is wearing off now, anyway, I'm not really getting
clear thoughts anymore… I think it's just emotions now." He
said and held her more tightly.

She smiled into his
chest and said, I'm not sorry about it either, what I am sorry
about is that I never had the courage to tell you sooner… I just
thought you'd never look at 'plain old, boring Herm…"

Harry cut her off, "You
know as well as I do that looks aren't everything, and I don't
know what you're worried about, anyway. I've always thought you
were beautiful, you know, I've told you that more than once… and
another thing, I've never, ever thought you were boring."

She sighed and pressed
closer into his chest, but he gave a slight groan of pain when she
did.

"Oh, I'm sorry,
Harry! I forgot!" She backed away from him, took his arm and
helped him back to the bed. "Here, lie down… You need to spend
the night here, and I have duties to perform, I'm not through with
my shift for another few hours, but I'll be back to check on you.
Please, try to get some sleep, we'll talk more about things later."

The rest of Hermione's
shift passed without incident, it was still a quiet night. She filed
her report for the night, reluctantly noting the condition and
treatment of her best friend.

She opened the door to
Harry's room and peeked in. She was surprised to see that he was
still awake, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling with a
strange look on his face that she couldn't quite read.

"Harry?" she asked
tentatively, "Haven't you slept at all?"

"No, I haven't,"
said Harry, "I can't sleep here. I've just been thinking..."

Hermione noticed that
his unreadable expression hadn't changed. She patiently waited a
few moments for him to continue, but his silence prompted her to ask,
"About…?"

"Thinking about what
I'm going to do about Ginny,"

Harry's expression
did change at this point, to a frown with such sadness in it that
reached straight into Hermione's heart.

"I'm going home
tonight," Harry paused, and then continued slowly, "I'm going
to give Ginny a chance…"

In that one, single
second in time as those words hit her, her heart stopped and a flood…
a seemingly impossible number of emotions tore through Hermione.

Surprise was the first.
How on Earth could he forgive Ginny for what she tried to do… for
what she, quite probably, really did do? She also felt anger, anger
at Ginny for having such a complete hold on Harry's heart that he
actually could forgive her for, what seemed to Hermione to be,
something so completely unforgivable. Another emotion, oddly enough,
was the sense of pride that she always had for Harry. She was
strangely proud of him for still having the one thing she loved most
about him… Faith. His faith in his friends, in his abilities and,
incredibly, faith in the person he chose to marry, but how could he
hold such faith in a person who was so unfaithful?

The last emotion hit
her hard. Sadness. Sadness for Harry, that he was going back to
condemn himself to a life of misery. Sadness for Ginny, that she's
married to a man that has admitted that he doesn't love her.
She'll play her games, she'll be on his arm at social gatherings,
she'll have wealth, power and possessions, but she'll never have
his heart. Finally, there was the sadness for herself. Sadness in
the knowledge that she loved Harry, and knew that he loved her as
well, but now she would never have him, not that she ever thought she
had a prayer before that night.

She felt a piece of her
soul die along with the hope that she held for the last few hours.
As he spoke those words, she realized that she was, once again,
Harry's favorite little brainy, bloody boring bookworm.

Surprisingly, even with
the avalanche of emotions that, in that brief instant, had buried
her, her expression hadn't changed.

Her face didn't
betray her…

…until Harry finished
his sentence.

"… to collect all
the things she brought into the marriage and get the hell out of my
house," Harry directed his eyes to Hermione and saw the shock on
her face, then continued to correct himself, "out of our
house."

He watched her for a
moment, she stood frozen in the doorway. The shocked expression
didn't leave her face. He felt a pang of sadness in his heart.

"Well," he said as
he felt his confidence waning, "that is, of course, if you want to
be with me… I just figured… I'll be going to see my lawyer in
the morning… I mean I'd understand if you didn't want to… not
right away, or… ummm…"

Hermione shook herself
out of the stupor in which she found herself. The understanding of
what he had just said finally sunk in past the shock. In two giant
strides and a leap, she landed on top of Harry and hugged him as
tightly as she dared, "Oh, Harry," she breathed to him, "I
can't believe it! Do you mean it?"

Harry smiled and kissed
her, "You bet I do!"

Hermione's smile
faltered a bit. "Ginny's going to be furious, you know… If you
divorce her, she's not going to settle for a bag of clothes and a
pat on the bum as she walks out the door, she's gotten too used to
those 'parties.' She's going to try to get as much from you as
she can."

Harry gave her a sly
smile, which Hermione took the wrong way. "No, Harry! I'm not
interested in your money! I just don't want to see you get…"

"I know, Hermione,"
he interrupted, "but she can't cause any trouble. She'll take
what I give her and be thankful for it." She gave him an uncertain
look.

"Think about it,
Hermione, you practically said so yourself… She'll take what I
give her, and if she tries to get more, well, how much money do you
think she could spend while in a cell in Azkaban?"

This reminded Hermione
of something she needed to do. She looked at Harry, unsure of how to
approach the subject. He noticed her concern, and asked, "What's
wrong?"

"Well, it's the
charm she used… If we didn't make it in time, then you aren't
going to be producing any new, live… ummm…"

"Seed?" suggested
Harry, who smiled at her embarrassment despite the gravity of the
conversation.

"Yes, well," she
continued, trying to sound as professional as possible while showing
him that hope for a family wasn't lost, "we won't know if the
counter-charm was successful for several weeks. You see, even if the
counter-charm didn't work, you still have live… seed in you right
now. You could get a sample and preserve it, and use it later when
you're ready." Hermione pulled a small, empty bottle from the
pocket of her smock and held it out to him.

Harry reddened in
understanding of what she was saying. He nodded, took the bottle and
as she left him alone in the room, he said, "Thanks… for
everything."

One month later,
Hermione was in her future bedroom, or it will be her bedroom once
she clears out the remainder of the 'artifacts' strewn throughout
the room. With a wave of her wand, she sent the entire mess of
lotions, potions and perfumes from the top of the vanity into a
nearby waste bucket, and smiled as the bucket burped loudly. She had
better not hear that bucket complain about being hungry for a long
time.

She wondered to herself
how one person could need so much… stuff. Rows of dressers packed
to capacity with frilly bras and knickers, shelves upon shelves of
beauty products, and room-sized closets full of designer gowns,
dresses, robes and assorted outfits. Even if the previous owner had
worn three of these outfits a day, without ever wearing the same
thing twice, she would certainly die of old age before getting
halfway through them, and this is after she had left the house with
sixteen of her favorite house elves, each dragging a large trunk full
of clothes and jewelry behind them.

Hermione could hardly
wait for the people from the St. Mungo's Relief fund to arrive.
They were certainly in for a surprise when they see all the clothing
that was being donated.

Hermione's thoughts
drifted to the previous week's events. She had been summoned to
the Ministry of Magic to give testimony for a Mr. Harry Potter. She
remembered the smug look on Ginny's face as she importantly
proclaimed her right to three-quarters of Harry's liquid assets,
and brazenly demanded that all their real estate be immediately sold,
with the profits split between Harry and her… Well, except for the
beach house, which she tearfully claimed the right to, seeing how she
spent most of her married life there, practically abandoned by a
'selfish, neglectful, and abusive husband' who valued his work
over her happiness.

Harry's lawyer
replaced Ginny's smugness with outrage as she heard the
counter-offer, she can take her clothes and a fixed one hundred
thousand Galleons.

Ginny immediately
ranted and screamed at her own lawyer, who was laughing pompously and
stated that the counter-offer was preposterous, and he had a good
mind to double the demands, after all, his client had to be kept in
the style of life that she had become accustomed to in her 'long'
years of marriage!

Harry's lawyer and
the justice minister both quietly waited for the rampage to die down,
each wearing a pleasant smile.

After the shouting had
ceased, Harry's lawyer calmly stated that her demands, while a bit
extreme, would normally have been agreed to… if it weren't
for the presence of the 'extenuating circumstances.'

Both the faces of Ginny
and her pompous lawyer fell. Neither one expected to hear what would
come next.

The justice minister
called Hermione forward to give her testimony. She related, in the
most professional manner she could summon, "Mr. Potter arrived at
St. Mungo's Hospital on October third of this year at nine
thirty-five in the evening, suffering from the effects of the
Scectillious charm, a spell that permanently sterilizes males
if it is not reversed immediately. Mr. Potter underwent an extremely
lengthy and painful treatment in an attempt to reverse the effects.
The effectiveness of that treatment is unknown at this time, but due
to the fact that Mr. Potter didn't know what this charm was that
Mrs. Potter had cast upon him, which resulted in the delay of the
treatment and makes his chances of recovery around fifteen percent."
She turned to the minister and stated, "As you know, Minister, it
is illegal for a male to cast that particular charm on anyone but
himself, and it is illegal for any female to cast it at all."

There was a collective
gasp, followed by angry muttering that echoed around the chamber as
Hermione returned to her seat.

Hermione recalled the
way Ginny's face dropped in shock when she learned of the
seriousness of the charges that were prepared against her, and the
look of fear that replaced the shock when she heard that the penalty
for casting the Scectillious charm on an unwilling male was
punishable by, at the minimum, fifteen years in Azkaban Prison.
Ginny's face became even paler when the court was informed that the
maximum sentence was fifty years, which is what Harry would
recommend if his counter-offer were refused.

Hermione watched coolly
when Ginny, upon hearing the possible punishment, rushed to Harry and
firmly planted herself on his lap and wantonly ground her hips into
his groin, saying in the sweetest voice she could muster, "Darling,
you won't let them take me to prison, would you? I know you aren't
serious about this divorce thingy… I knew you wouldn't mind
about that silly spell, I know you want me to stay slim and sexy for
you, and we could just adopt a little brat in ten years or so!"

Even Molly Weasley,
whose eyes had been shooting daggers at Harry since she arrived with
her daughter, blanched at the way Ginny was acting, realizing that
maybe, just maybe, her daughter wasn't the victim here as she had
claimed.

Seeing that her
'charms' weren't working as Harry was trying to push her off of
him, she played what she thought was her trump card, "Don't you
love me anymore? I still love you…"

Harry coldly glared at
her as he finally managed to pry her away, then gave a wicked,
simpering smile and said to her, "I'll be willing to drop the
charges altogether… If you forget the galleons and just take your
clothes… They're worth much more than the money I'm offering,
anyway."

An hour later, the
hearing was over. Ginny had her clothes, and they both had their
freedom. Hermione tried not to laugh at the look on Ginny's face
as she left the divorce hearing. She honestly did try, but failed
miserably.

Hermione had just said
'goodbye' to the St. Mungo's representatives, who were
positively beaming with excitement at the generosity of the Great
Harry Potter, when he arrived home from work.

He rushed up, kissed
her, and said, "Hermione! What are you doing here?"

She stared at him for a
moment with a silly smile on her lips, seemingly lost in thought,
'Mmmm, I can't wait until I'm greeted like that every time
he comes home.'

"Hermione?"

"Oh!" she said,
snapping out of her thoughts, "I was just here with the St. Mungo's
relief people, you know, clearing out stuff. I told you yesterday
I'd be here helping…"

"That's right,"
he said hitting himself in the forehead and smiling, "Sorry, I
forgot about that. I thought for a moment that you might have more
changes to the wedding plans… We're still on for next week,
aren't we?"

"Are you sure you
don't think we're rushing into this? I'd understand if you
wanted to wait…"

Harry smiled warmly and
took her in his arms, "Don't you think we've waited too long as
it is?"

She didn't answer,
she just hugged him tighter, enjoying the warmth of his embrace.

"Well, I'm here for
another reason, too, I mean aside from meeting with the St. Mungo's
people." She said with a small smile as she pulled back slightly
and looked into his eyes.

"Oh? And what might
that reason be?"

She blushed slightly
while admiring the diamond ring on her finger, the ring that he had
presented her the previous night, "You see, it's been a month
since the counter-charm was performed, and I think it's time we
find out if it worked."

"Oh…" his smile
disappeared as he sighed and held out his hand, "Well, give me the
bottle…"

"Bottle? What
bottle?" she asked with a very un-Hermioneish grin as she took
Harry's hand and led him towards the freshly cleaned out bedroom,
"There's more than one way to find out, you know…"

A/N: Whether you like
it or hate it, please leave a review and let me know if
there's anything I can do to improve my writing. If I can make you
happy by writing, you can make me happy by reviewing.

(Angry
Hermione)

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.